A California jury heard how an argument inside a family home became a deadly shooting that killed three relatives.
REDLANDS, Calif. — A teenager who survived gunfire inside her mother’s Redlands home became a central witness in the murder trial of Eric Otto White, who was convicted April 30 in the deaths of three family members.
The testimony of Zanorra Brooks Killebrew helped jurors understand what prosecutors called the domestic tensions behind the Aug. 26, 2020, attack. Her mother, Kavina Madison Brooks, was killed along with Brooks’ twin sister, Kavona Kimberly Brooks-Lee, and Brooks-Lee’s husband, Kenneth Lee. The jury found White guilty of first-degree murder after hearing evidence about the shooting, his flight and his state of mind.
Brooks Killebrew was 14 when police responded to the 900 block of Carlson Avenue just after 1:30 a.m. She testified years later that White had been angry at her mother for what he viewed as lenient parenting and that the dispute sharpened after Brooks touched White’s karaoke speaker. The detail became one of the most repeated facts in the case because prosecutors used it to show how small household conflicts had become bound up with control. The teenager also testified that Brooks told White the day before the shooting that he could move out and that she could find someone else. In the courtroom, that statement was treated not as a passing remark but as part of the motive prosecutors said led White to pick up a gun.
The trial account placed the surviving child near the center of a scene that unfolded quickly. Brooks, Brooks-Lee and Lee were present when White pulled a gun, according to testimony. Brooks shouted, “Calm down!” Lee warned, “You’re threatening somebody’s life.” Those words were among the final efforts to stop the violence before gunfire struck the family. Prosecutors said White fired shot after shot with a handgun. Brooks and Lee died at the house. Brooks-Lee was critically wounded and later died after hospitalization. Family members said Brooks Killebrew hid during the attack; later accounts also described her as injured. What remains clear from trial coverage is that she survived and later faced White in court through her testimony.
The child’s account gave prosecutors a window into family life before the shooting. Jurors heard about a relationship under strain, White’s disapproval of how Brooks handled her daughter and his anger after the karaoke speaker was touched. They also heard that Brooks had created distance by telling him to move out. Deputy District Attorney Justin Crocker argued that White felt his control slipping and responded with violence. During closing arguments, Crocker described White’s decision as a choice made at “the fork in the road,” saying that once he moved toward murder, the attack became “shot after shot after shot after shot.” The prosecution’s theory depended on showing deliberation, not only rage.
White’s attorney, James Rankin Gass, presented jurors with another explanation. The defense said White had a history of serious mental illness and asked jurors to consider a lesser outcome than first-degree murder. Forensic and clinical psychologist John Matthew Fabian testified that White had schizoaffective disorder and a history involving bipolar and depressive episodes. Fabian also said White was not taking medication at the time of the shooting. The defense position did not erase the deaths, but it challenged whether White formed the kind of premeditated intent required for the highest murder finding. Jurors weighed that argument against evidence about the gunfire, the earlier conflict and White’s conduct after the attack.
White’s actions after the shooting became another key issue. Authorities said he fled after the killings, leaving Redlands as police searched for him. Early police reports described him as a Phoenix man and warned that he might be driving a silver or tan 2003 Nissan Altima with dark-tinted windows and Arizona plates. A $3 million arrest warrant was issued. Family members said he had returned to the house after the shooting, changed clothes and altered the vehicle’s license plates or appearance. Weeks later, a fugitive apprehension team arrested White in Las Vegas. Prosecutors used that flight to support their argument that White understood what he had done and sought to avoid arrest.
The original complaint filed by the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office reflected the facts known in the first days after the violence. It charged White with murdering Brooks and Lee and attempting to murder Brooks-Lee. The document said the crimes occurred on or about Aug. 26, 2020, and alleged that White personally and intentionally discharged a handgun. It also listed a prior serious or violent felony conviction from 1981. The case later grew into a triple murder prosecution after Brooks-Lee died. By the time jurors heard the case in 2026, the legal record had become broader, but the core scene remained the same: a home, a domestic argument, three adults shot and one child left to testify about it.
For relatives, the verdict marked a public answer after years of grief. Brooks and Brooks-Lee were twin sisters, a fact that deepened the family’s loss because the shooting took two siblings at once. Lee’s death added another branch of loss to the same household. Alicia Sutton, Brooks-Lee’s daughter, described the conviction as “sad, but finally.” Her words pointed to the split nature of a murder verdict: it confirms responsibility, but it does not restore the people killed. The case also required relatives to relive details of the argument, the gunfire and the search for White as the trial moved through testimony and closing arguments.
White, now 63, faces a penalty phase because the case includes special-circumstances allegations tied to multiple first-degree murders. A jury is expected to recommend a sentence, and Judge Cheryl Kersey will decide whether to adopt the recommendation or issue her own sentence. The possible outcomes include life in prison or the death penalty. The conviction leaves no dispute in court over guilt, but it leaves the punishment unresolved. For Brooks Killebrew, the legal process has already required years of waiting and a return to the worst night of her childhood.
The case now stands between verdict and sentence. Court action will next focus on punishment for White, while the family moves forward with a record that names Brooks, Brooks-Lee and Lee as murder victims in the Redlands shooting.
Author note: Last updated May 25, 2026.